e-Bulletin February 2025

Professor Vijaykrishna Dhanasekaran and His Team Awarded the HKU Research Output Prize 2023-24
Celebrating Excellence in Research Achievement

Professor Vijaykrishna Dhanasekaran and his team received the HKU Research Output Prize 2023-24 for their article titled “The episodic resurgence of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 virus”.

The HKU Research Output Prize aims to recognise, honour and reward the best research output published or created in the preceding calendar year.

Led by Professor Dhanasekaran, Associate Professor of our School, the team^# examined the changing origins and trends of highly pathogenic avian H5 outbreaks using epidemiological data collected by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and the World Organisation for Animal Health between 2005 and 2022. They analysed more than 10,000 whole viral genomes to identify significant shifts in the global distribution of H5 virus outbreaks. They discovered the rising importance of viral reassortment in wild birds whose migration patterns could spread new viral variants around world. The findings have been published in the prestigious journal Nature, accessible here.

^#Xie, Ruopeng*, Edwards, Kimberly M.*, Wille, Michelle, Wei, Xiaoman*, Wong, Sook San*, Zanin, Mark*, El-Shesheney, Rabeh, Ducatez, Mariette, Poon, Leo L.M.*, Kayali, Ghazi, Webby, Richard J., Dhanasekaran, Vijaykrishna* “The episodic resurgence of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 virus.” Nature 622, no. 7984 (2023): 810-817.

*Members of SPH

The School extends our hearty congratulations to Professor Vijaykrishna Dhanasekaran and his team on this well-deserved recognition.